You Have Thirty Days
by Troubled Romantic
Summary: Another drabble collection with the 100 Themes Challenge. Requests taken.
1. Criminal

_98. Criminal  
_

Say you're a bad guy- maybe a corrupt corporate executive, or a double agent, or a mobster, for all it matters. You've escaped the police, the CIA, even the current James Bond rip-off. Anyway, you're on your private island, relaxing on a beach and laughing about how you managed to outwit all of those detective types. Pretty nice, huh? I'll give you a minute. Imagine some fruit drink in your hands. There are palm trees everywhere. Blah blah whatever.

Now here's the fun part. Out of nowhere, a little girl shows up. She's blond, blue eyes, wears glasses. Also she's covered with hives, but nonetheless still cute. She pulls out a pair of handcuffs and before you can react, she's reading you your rights and you're under arrest. Ridiculous, right? That's what I thought. But when I pushed her aside, four other kids appeared.

Now I'm going, "what in the world-" but the other blond kid (the one with braces) suddenly has a needle out and he pricks me with it.

"You know, next time I hope the bad guy hires some bodyguards. Then I can at least body slam someone," the other girl says just as I blank out.

And now I'm here, awaiting trial. Unbelievable.

Go ahead and laugh. I'm telling you the truth, I swear.


	2. Questioning

_2. Questioning**  
**_

* * *

Hooked up to the electric device, Duncan wondered if Ruby was perhaps a little jumpy today. Jackson had come out of the training room fried to a crisp. He had probably tried to get through the "truth-or-dare-but-really-just-truth" session by taking a chance. With Ruby it wasn't very smart to take chances.

"Does Matilda like you?" She asked. Duncan blinked. Granted, it must be hard to have to come up with new questions every session, but Pufferfish had never seemed to care about stuff like _that _before.

"Come on, answer the question."

"Yes."

There was a moment's pause. If Duncan was lying, this would be the part where Ruby's allergies would start up. Nothing.

"Okay then. Has she ever kissed you?"

He hesitated. "No."

"Liar," Ruby said, and had the machine shocked him. "Next question. Do you like her back?"

"Exactly what did Jackson say for you to electrocute him?"

She looked down at him as if she were scolding a toddler. "Gluestick, I'm the master of tricky conversation. If you're going to try to avoid a question, at least be a bit less subtle about it."

He shrugged, pulling a bit at the wires taped to his arm. "He's just as stubborn as you, so I'm going to guess. What did you fight about?"

"He said I was beautiful."

Since when was she offended by compliments? Matilda would definitely hurt someone for saying that, but Ruby?

"He was lying." She explained, then paused. "You still haven't answered the question."

"Oh, um." What _was _the question again? And it was bad form to ask. "No."

"Really?" Her eyes gleamed for the shortest moment, but then she was businesslike again. "Next question."


	3. Diary

**A/N: Happy Fourth of July, guys!**

* * *

_3. Diary  
_

* * *

The following are entries from a composition book owned by the agent codenamed Braceface, written five days after he got his braces and three weeks before his entry into N.E.R.D.S.

_The Notebook of Secrets_

_WARNING: This book belongs to Jackson Jones. Anyone who reads this without his permission will be shot. NO EXCEPTIONS._

_Category one: my former friends:_

1. **Brett. **He skips when he runs. Why? Just...why?

2. **Jenise. **I never noticed it before, but she never joined us when we were picking on the geeks. Now that I think about it, she was always nagging for us to stop. We never listened because it wasn't like she'd ever _do_ anything about it. Also, she doesn't eat peas.

3. **Ron. **Ran into him after school two days ago (the twelfth). He ignored me, but here's the thing: he was wearing glasses. And a horrible knit sweater. He was limping too and he looked like a total nerd. He's even more pathetic than me! (I wish)

4. **Lori.**She licks her lips WAY too often. Note to self: get a stopwatch and time it. Wow, that sounds creepy, but it's not like I have anything better to do. Lori is very protective of Jenise.

5.** Steven. **This kid will kill us all. Joke, joke. He's just a lot quieter now that I've been exiled. I wonder why?

...

_Category eighth (and last. Finally!): the nerd herd._

_**In general****:** what it up with these kids? They're not even trying to fit in. Incurable nerditis, maybe?_

_Note to self: make sure you got their names right. It's bad form to refer to the subjects by nickname._

1. **Matilda. **Asthmatic. Her parents fight, her brothers fight...I suppose that if she didn't have asthma she would fight back too. That's a terrifying thought. She has posters of famous wrestlers all over her room.

2. **Duncan. **Pasteater (ew!). Loves gadgets. Third smartest kid in the class. Also the only one who can look at the ugliness that is Matilda Choi and smile. Glue is the least of his problems.

3. **Julio. **ADHD? Tourette's syndrome? I have no idea. Very protective of Duncan.

4. **Ruby. **Wears glasses, weird sweaters, and seems to be the leader of the herd. Second smartest kid in class. She ignores me too. I mean, everyone does, but Ruby can stare into your soul and that's just plain creepy!

5. **Heathcliff.** This kid will kill us all. No joke.


	4. First

_4. First_

* * *

_Year: 1981_

Valentina Carasso never had a very high opinion of adults. At twenty-eight, she was technically one now, but she thought she was better than most of the grown-ups around her. After all, the nation's top spies could not handle her invention-the use of nanotechnology to create psuedo-superpowers- but a few children could.

It was these children she was going to have to become a babysitter to, since she was the only one who knew enough about the nanobytes to notice if anything went wrong.

Valentina had been "hired" as the new librarian at Nathan Hale Elementary School, but when she finally arrived, it was three hours after the students had been dismissed_. Whichever kids had been recruited must have been waiting a long time. _Valentina thought. She really didn't care though. _Whatever. This will be fully worth it. _

She unlocked and opened the library. It was completely dark inside. "Hello?" She flipped on the lights.

There were five kids in the room, sitting innocently with the puppy eyes and everything. "What did you destroy?" Valentina asked.

The blonde girl spoke up. "A nuclear missle in a classified country. Ms. Carasso, let's get this straight, okay? We're spies. We've been spies for a long time. We will not take any condescending talk from you."

_What a little beam of sunshine. _"Hopefully I won't be here very long," Valentina said dryly. "I was told Benjamin would be in the Playground. How do I get there?"

"I'll show you," the smaller girl offered.


	5. Paper Aeroplane

_**A/N Disclaimer: Crackship. Complete crackship.**_

* * *

_5. Paper Aeroplane, prompt courtesy of Ezra Marcel. Thanks a ton ;)  
_

* * *

Max was alone, a rare occurrence in the Choi household, considering how many kids lived there. For once, all his siblings' extracurricular activities happened to fall on the same day, at the same time. His parents would be out until midnight, too, giving him the whole house and a good eight hours to trash it.

If he had been any of his brothers, nothing would be spared.

As it was, he was Max, the responsible one. That option simply wasn't appealing. Instead he locked himself in Matilda's room - it really was the best one in the house - and sat down to read. Between the book and the fluffy pillows he was extremely comfortable.

Then something darted in through the window.

He jumped out of bed, snatched it. A paper airplane. The middle was glued shut, but if he held the plane at a certain angle, he could see writing inside. He glanced outside. There was nobody out there. So it must be a message of some sort.

He examined the wings. Underneath one, in feminine, neat handwriting, was the initial "D". Max rolled his eyes. That boy Duncan must have sent it. He was the only guy in existence who would bother paying attention to Matilda. Back when Max had had a decent relationship with his little sister, she had confided that she had a crush on "this nice guy from my school". The writing inside just _had _to be a love letter. This brought up the most obvious question: should he open it?

All his brothers wouldn't have even hesitated. They would have ripped the thing to shreds, written back an extraordinarily cheesy reply, and then used whatever was inside to torment Matilda for the next six weeks. Unfortunately he was the responsible one. He would have to do the right thing.

Although there were ways around that. "A" right thing to do would be to leave it on the bed, then leave and head to the living room. Another right thing to do would be to open it up and read, with the justification that he didn't want some jerk of a guy to take advantage of her.

He laughed. Like anyone would believe _that_. Molly in particular would slap him for implying that Matilda needed protecting. His sister was a Tough Choi Female, Superior to the Patriarchy and Completely Invincible and Correct. Or at least that's what Molly's lectures seemed to sound like. Everyone knew that Matilda was her favorite; she was the only one that was never referred to as a "monkey" or "knucklehead", the only one who was comforted when she woke up from a nightmare, the only one who was never told to "go bother someone else".

Suddenly Max realized where his brothers got the "us against her" mindset. He went to find a letter opener.

* * *

Coming back from the mission, Matilda took the long way home. It was late, her brothers were probably there, and the longer she could avoid them, the better. Today had been exhausting, and for once she wasn't in the mood for a fight.

She ran into Max on the staircase; he looked surprised, muttered a few confusing words, then hurried away. He had better not have ruined her wrestling posters while she was away. Mickey had done that a couple months ago, and he had definitely paid for it.

She opened the door to her room. Everything _seemed_ alright. The sweaty smell that she was used to was still there; the closet was still in full disarray...

There! A paper airplane was hidden halfway underneath the bed. She picked it up, examined it, threw it across the room. It did look like something Max would make. The middle was glued shut, but if she held it just so, there was writing visible on the inside. She smiled, thinking of what must have happened. Max was writing a message to someone, heard her coming, and shoved it down there without thinking. Matilda grinned and tore it open.

_Marky,_

_I've been too afraid to say this to you in person, but I really like you. Yes, in _that _way. I understand if you don't feel the same way... but if you do, please tell me!_

_Tanisha D.  
_

* * *

"Hey, what's up with Mat?" Mobi asked, watching his sister stumble down the stairs with a disgusted expression on her face.

Max didn't look up from his book. "Dunno. Maybe she got a letter from someone..."


	6. Sickness

**Author's note: MAJOR SPOILERS for The Villain Virus. Seriously, don't read it unless you read the book first. This part was in the book, but it was only one paragraph, 'cause... WHY MICHAEL BUCKLEY WHY?!**

* * *

When they got her to the Playground, Matilda had a temperature of 105 degrees, Fahrenheit. When the first tests were begun, she started screaming. The other NERDS waited outside; nobody said so, but the unspoken feeling was that she was dying, and they didn't want to watch. Inside, Ms. Holiday was trying her best to keep Matilda restrained while Benjamin led the scientists in search of the disease. After they found the disease—they hadn't yet, but everyone kept telling themselves they would – then they would find a cure.

If the girl was still alive, that is.

"What's wrong with her?" Brand shouted. He glanced over every screen on the walls, as if one of them might blink green and exclaim **SHE'S GOING TO LIVE.**

"We don't know!" Dr. Kim said, frantically running the symptoms through their database. "Benjamin doesn't have any record of anything like this!"

"We're the top agency in the entire world! How can we-" his exclamation was interrupted by another scream. It sounded like the poor girl was being burnt alive. Agent Brand took a deep breath, tried to calm himself. "She can't die. She's the damn Wheezer—no, I don't care what you think of swearing. My best agent is going to _die_ here, and we can't do a damn thing about it!"

"I know," Dr. Kim said miserably. "But there are so many symptoms, and none of them are connected—split personality, sudden violence, fever, pain—there is no disease that covers all of them!"

"Then find the ones that cover _some _of them!" Brand demanded, checking on the agent.

Out of all the NERDS, Matilda was the one he felt the most protective of. She said she could take care of herself, but time and time again she ended up injured, and every time he had ended up having to look after her himself. The poor girl had wanted attention. Now she had it. But what good would it do now? What good would _anything _do now?

For a moment Brand forgot that she wasn't _his _daughter.

For a moment he was afraid he'd lose her.

"Hang in there!" he whispered. Then, to Dr. Kim: "Have you found anything yet?"

"I'm still looking! How's her fever?"

"107 degrees," one of the scientists reported.

"Get the girl some ice, or a wet washcloth, or something!" Dr. Kim said. Before you could blink, Ms. Holiday was gone, leaving Brand by Matilda's side to worry.

Suddenly there was a tug at his sleeve. It was Duncan. "Agent Brand, I—"

"Go back outside! We can't risk you getting sick either!"

"_I think I know what's wrong with her!"_

The entire Playground went silent. Everyone turned to look at him.

"W-well…you've been searching _diseases, _right? Natural and man-made?"

"Get to the point, Gluestick!" Brand roared. Duncan put his hands up.

"What if her nanobots have been sabotaged? Like Captain Upgrade's gun did—"

"That just might be it!" Dr Kim typed desperately in the records. Bejamin began to whir, searching for the tests to see whether something like that could happen or not.

It seemed as if everything would be all right, after all.

"ALEXANDER!" Ms. Holiday screamed. She was holding on to Matilda's hand, and it seemed like she was crying herself. Brand noted subconsciously that the little girl was lying incredibly still, considering the past couple hours or so.

Ms. Holiday said something, but he couldn't hear. It was like a dream. Everything was so moving in slow motion, completely silent.

Ms. Holiday tried to say it again, and this time it came through clearly.

"She's not breathing…"


End file.
